


Over The Hills And Far Away (English Version)

by Dr_Henriette_Nygmobblepot



Category: Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft, Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lovecraft Fusion, Alternate Universe - Military, Antiquarian! Arthur, Body Horror, Dream Sex, Drug Addiction, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Evil Eames, M/M, Mind Fuck, Mind Fuck (Literally), Minor Character Death, Nyarlathotep! Eames, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Horror, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Rough Sex, Seduction to the Dark Side, Slow Burn, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:06:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29838534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Henriette_Nygmobblepot/pseuds/Dr_Henriette_Nygmobblepot
Summary: Arthur Carter, an antiquarian and Afghanistan vet, agreed to investigate the sudden mental breakdown and suicide of Mal Cobb, the wife of his friend Dominick Cobb, a psychotherapist. With the help from a mysterious foreigner, they finally were able to go under the dreamland searching for the lost city - “Limbo”. Everything seemed fine, but Arthur’s gut feelings were telling him that man is a forger: there’s something truly evil hidden beneath that foreigner’s flirtatious appearance.
Relationships: Arthur & Eames (Inception), Arthur/Eames (Inception), Dom Cobb/Mal Cobb
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Over The Hills And Far Away (English Version)

**Author's Note:**

> This work is an English translation of my fic which originally written in Chinese. So prepare yourself for lots of weird grammars and terrible English. I swear this work would be 1000x more awesome If only my native language is English, but anyway.

Arthur Carter was awakened by a sudden knock on the door. His mind was already clear by the time he got off the bed. It was an old habit back to the days he was deployed in Afghanistan. He had since become a light sleeper, any subtle movements could wake him up almost immediately. 

You are not in the army anymore. He told himself, but right hand was still reaching towards the Glock 17 on the bedside. He walked across the living door with bare feet, temple throbbing because of exhaustion. The throbbing intensified once he saw the face of the guest from the peephole.

Arthur opened the door. A door chain separated him and the unexpected guest. 

“May I come in?”

Arthur stared at the man standing before him. His suit and hairstyle were all ruined by the heavy rainfall.

“You are not supposed to be here.”

“Please, Arthur, I can’t think of anyone else who can help me with this right now. I need you.” The man beseeched, looking at him with those pressing blue eyes.

The rain started to invade his room as he was standing there watching raindrops falling from the man’s nose tip. He should have known better. He knew he should just close the door. This isn’t his war to fight, after all; and the last thing he needed at the moment was to invite additional complexity into his life. Whenever Cobb shows up it only signals troubles, and Arthur had to be the one who’s going to fix all the shit up.

“Sorry, can’t help.” Cobb suddenly grabbed the door frame just before he was going to slam the door on his face. “Arthur, please, for the kids’ sake.”

Arthur glared at him. He couldn’t find a single trace of guilt on Cobb’s face. Instead, what he found was an entitled, unapologetic self-righteousness. He had known Cobb for also a decade now, knowing for Cobb family takes priority over anything else; he would protect them by all costs, even that means sending his best friend going into somewhere very dangerous and doing something that might get him killed. And Cobb didn’t feel guilty at all for doing those things. 

Dominick Cobb was someone who is highly self-destructive. And he’s a goddamn psychotherapist. How ironic. 

Arthur removed the door chain, letting the man in reluctantly. The man sat on the edge of the bed, burying face in his hands. Then he looked up with a desperate look on his face. “They said I murdered my wife, pushing her out of the hotel’s window and threatening the children…… you don’t believe what they said, do you? You know I’ll never do anything to harm Mal!”

“Tell me what happened.” He answered simply. 

***

_He did not feel a single thing when Mal passed away. Because his blood, marrow and soul were all gone with her life. When Mal first found him, he was drifting on the street of Chicago and hanging out with the local gangs, wasting his life away with gunpowder and cocaine. He ran away from home to get away from his abusive alcoholic father and spineless mother who never did anything to stop the abuse. Sometimes he wondered what would his life be like without Mal._

_And he refused to imagine that._

_He thought she was joking when Mal said she’s going to take him home with her. Cobb too was shocked. But Mal said he’s a man of great potential, and she taught him everything: how to dress, how to stay cautious and keep calm. She even paid for his military college._

_When Arthur was back from college to spend the weekend she would take him to her lab in the local university and show him around, a place filled with odd sculptures and countless manuscripts written in languages he could not recognize. Almost immediately, he was spellbound._

_He questioned Mal what she was looking for. Mal asked in a lighthearted tone, do you still dream, Arthur?_

_I do. He answered, confused._

_Have you seen such a place in your dream? A most marvelous, magnificent and solemn city, with glittering sunset streets, a place blessed by Gods. In a half sleep half awake state you can hear that she was calling you, yet you were bounded by a tyrannical force, keeping you from reaching to that place.  
_

_It’s all just a dream. He said._

_Yes. But I can’t help myself...It's a strange feeling, like I'm having a nostalgia to a place I've never visited in real life. She whispered, eyes gleaming with both sorrow and joy._

***

“Things started to lose control about two months ago. Mal, her obsession with those damn antiques were growing stronger and stronger everyday, and she was talking about those dreams she had, the cosmos truths, saying she had to go back to some city, and she was injecting those sedatives she brought back from Mombasa to help her with the journey in searching for the city……she quit her job, spending her entire day sleeping and had stopped taking care of the kids. I thought what she needed was just a vacation, God I was wrong. I’m the most incompetent psychotherapist.” Cobb’s voice tightened, “She told me that she wanted me to join her searching for _Limbo_ together, a place where ‘we can do whatever we want, building palaces, eroding lands, creating wealth, even achieving immortality…...' ” 

_Mal, sweetheart, where are you?_

_A crisp sound. He looked down and realized he was stepping on the broken glass that were all over the place. His heart stopped._

_Dom, why are you so blind？Don’t you want us to be together forever？_

_He looked up. There she was, sitting on the edge of window of the opposite building._

_What are you doing, sweetheart? Talk to me…_

_He tried to comfort her. But her eyes were empty, soulless._

_See? Dom，you don’t understand…...we can only be happy at_ **_Limbo_. **_Only at Limbo we can truly be together, forever. I’ve already left a note, telling everyone how you’ve threatened me and the kids…...I’m doing this for you, Dom, for us._

 _No，Mal_ **_,_ ** _look at me……_

_His wife smiled. This is it, then. This is where you left us, is it, Dom?_

_Mal!_

_You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter…..._

_MAL! No!_

_He cried out. Tearing steaming down his lips, tasted like blood._

_MAL!!_

_Because we'll be together, forever——_

_Then she jumped. Leaving only Cobb's screaming echoing in the city._

_***_

_For a long while, none of them have spoken a word._

Eventually it was Arthur who broke the silence. “You should get going while you still can. I’m not sure what you need me for, Dom.”

“I want to find out the truth of Mal’s suicide. You know her work. You are an antiquarian yourself. I want to know what happened exactly. I know you want this as much as I do.”

Arthur shook his head. “I’m sorry, Dom, but I’m not really as familiar with her work as you imagined.”

He thought Cobb would argue with him, but surprisingly, Cobb only nodded. Then he was hit with the realization of how tired Cobb was. “Give me a call in case you change your mind. Here is my temporary number.” He left a note on the bedside and petted Arthur on the shoulder like the old times. Then he left. 

The room fell into silence once again. Arthur stood in darkness all by himself, exhausted. He fell onto the bed soaked by the rain from Cobb’s jacket and fell asleep in a second.

He did not dream that night.


End file.
